To Be Followed
by farfetched4
Summary: After one stupid slip-up, Silver prepares to run from Gold once again: Gold decides to make his thoughts on it quite clear. PreciousMetalShipping


The sound crashes all around him, making him wince slightly with his ever-growing headache, and the whole situation makes him wonder why he came.

Then he remembers the pleading look on Gold's face, shyer than usual, when asking him to join him to someone's party.

Silver then curses his weakness for Gold.  
He never wanted to be in l- to have an _infactuation_for Gold, (he won't call it love, not yet, not ever) and he certainly never wants it to affect his already-tentative friendship with the other trainer.

He grips his glass of water (and it was water, because he'd checked. He hates alcohol, and he has certainly seen enough people falling about and being sick to not want to start liking it now) and grimaces as a pulse in the music makes his head pound, and he decides that enough is enough. Downing the water, he looks for Gold to inform him. (he'd like to simply walk out, but he doesn't know if Gold will be sober enough by the end of the party to get home alone. He'll probably get a taxi with some of his other friends, Silver thinks.)

He spots Gold just in time to see some ditzy-looking blonde threw her body at Gold's, breasts most definitely pushed right against his body, and she leans towards him, making to kiss him.

Suddenly, Silver feels a wave of nausea overtake him even without having touched the alcohol, and he promptly tells himself that Gold will just cope on his own. He manages to restrain his anger and hatred (he's not quite sure who it's directed at) to put the glass down on the side, and he pushes past the throng of smokers around the door, breaking into a run shortly after.

Silver eventually finds himself near a playground, and hops over the fence (ignoring the under-12s only sign) and sits himself on a swing, breathing deeply. The peace and quiet is heavenly to him, the cool breeze on his heated skin a blessing. He wishes that he'd brought at least one pokemon to keep him company (to keep his mind off Gold) but Gold had forbidden him, saying that he didn't want Silver to attack anyone. If only he had Weavile or Feraligatr, he could be training with them instead of... But really, if he'd never accepted Gold's invitation in the first place, he wouldn't have seen such a disturbing scene and would be (semi-)peacefully training.

Perhaps it is time for him to leave Johto, move on and challenge other leagues. He's heard that a new league has opened in Unova, a far away nation, and that it is tough. He's learnt (during his own research; he wasn't afraid to admit he'd been thinking of this for longer than a while) that there were some particularly strong pokemon in Unova, and it would be interesting to get used to different types of pokemon, fight different trainers, instead of being stationary in Johto. (Maybe travelling again would erase his mind of this moronic infactuation he had)

He thinks of the website he has bookmarked, "Unova Airlines".

He hears a Hoothoot trill from the trees, and decides to put his life in motion again. (This time, away from Gold)

No sooner has he set his mind, he hears the footsteps, and looks up to see none other than the one he'd be running from.  
Gold looks awful - he has a smear of lipstick over his cheek that had been hastily rubbed, causing a large red smudge that almost looks like misplaced make-up. Silver remembers that Gold didn't bring his hat, but his hair is messed up regardless, his rogue flick of hair sodden.

Silver might have laughed, any other day, but he wasn't in the greatest mood and Gold looked distinctly _morose_, standing there.

"Why, why d'ya leave?" With that question, it is clear that Gold is drunk, since he's having to focus on his words and even then there is a slur to them.

"Why did _you_ leave?" Silver doesn't particularly want to answer Gold's question truthfully.  
"'cos you left."

"Oh?" Alarm bells start ringing in his head, praying for him not to continue, but Silver ignores them, aware of the possiblity that Gold will not remember this, come morning. "I thought you'd be too busy with that girl I saw you with to notice." Gold furrows his eyebrows and then sways, quickly sitting himself on the swing adjacent to Silver.

"Ya seem jealous 'bout it..." Jealous? _Jealous_? If only it were false, thinks Silver. He'd rather die than let Gold know that, however.

"I'm not jealous! You can have whichever _slut_throws herself in your path, for all I care." Silver stands resolutely, ready to run away from this situation that is quickly sliding out of his control. The connection between his brain and his mouth isn't matching up, leaving a dangerous gap where actual truths might make themselves known.

Gold grips his hand, rises to stand close to him and looks at him, dark eyes glittering as they stare at him. Gold looks amused, almost happy, and that infuriates Silver.  
"Let me go."  
"No." (Gold hadn't had that much to drink, he just thought approaching Silver as a drunk would make it easier. The red-head didn't seem to notice the unnerving speed with which Gold was sobering) He draws nearer to Silver, enjoying the evident panic in his usually calm friend. (it's sort of cute.)

Silver turns, guns about to blaze, until he finds Gold extremely close to him, and the shock leads him to a momentary lapse of thought.

He presses his lips to Gold's, for a full two seconds.

Then Silver leaps back, eyes wide and hands quivering, a slew of curses and degradations running through his head at his stupidity. He doesn't even try to pass it off or anything, preferring to run as fast as possible, fully intent on not stopping until he either dies of a heart attack or gets home to lock the door.

Gold stands alone in the playground, mix of emotions turning him to putty, so he sits back on the swing and tries not to cry. With what, he's not sure.

* * *

It is a longer distance from his house than he quite expected, but he makes it, locking the door behind him and rushing to the computer. Silver boots up that bookmarked page, and looks at it, wills himself to get a boarding pass and fly so far away from Johto (Gold) that he will never be found, or recognised.

After a moment's hesitation, he buys it.  
Ignoring the tinge of bitter regret, he spends the next two days packing his meager belongings (he never cared for having much) and sorting the flat so it won't be his once he has left.

Then Gold appears on his doorstep, throwing all his plans into murky water where he can never be quite sure what's going to happen to them.  
Gold has a tendency of doing that with plans; either throwing them out the window or changing them so much it wasn't worth even trying to argue about it.

Silver tries to slam the door in his face, but his hand doesn't obey his call and Gold saunters in as if he's _meant_ to be there. The silence between them is thick as Gold walks towards the living room, Silver following because he might as well try and sort this before he goes.  
They sit on the sofa because it's the only piece of furniture left, and even that is being removed later. Gold doesn't seem to notice the empty state of the room, but then again, Silver has never really let him see much of the flat.

Eventually, after what feels like hours to them, Gold pipes up.  
"About the other day... I-"  
"It was a mistake." Much as it pains Silver to admit to a mistake of his, he hopes that he can pass it off as being drunk, although he knows he wasn't. "I had had too much alcohol."

Gold smiles, catching Silver offguard.  
"No you hadn't. You hadn't touched a drop of alcohol all night! Unless you absorbed it from the atmosphere..." He laughed at himself. "Besides, a mistake still shows that you meant it."

Silver halts, because it means Gold has noticed everything. He can no longer hide it, but he doesn't want to reveal anything either, so he says the first unrelated thing to come to his head.

"I'm leaving tomorrow."  
"What?" Gold shuffles closer to him, and Silver looks in the opposite direction.  
"I booked a flight to Unova." he mutters, and mentally notes the last few things he has to remove from the flat or add to his bag. He's brought back to the situation by a hand on his arm, and despite himself, looks. He finds Gold, appearing almost forlorn, watching him imploringly. He's just as close as he was two nights ago, and- Silver will not make that mistake again. "You can't stop me going."

"Take me with you!"  
"No." He feels the grip on his arm tighten, and Gold looks down slightly, no longer meeting his gaze.

"You're running away from me." The murmur is so quiet he strains to hear it, but he can't help but flinch once he does.  
"I'm not. I booked this a lon-"  
"You _are_!" Gold interrupts him, a complete u-turn from his previous passivity. He watches Silver with an odd expression, narrowed eyes appearing to express some kind of hurt. "You can't face that you kissed me, so you're running. You always run from me. But I'm fed up of chasing you!"

"Then stop chasing me if it bothers you so much." Silver's still reeling from being caught out, and doesn't put much thought into his words.

"No! You mean too much. I just want you to _see_..."  
"There's nothing _to_see. You keep your happy life here, and I'll go to Unova. End of it." He's about to get up, shoo Gold out his apartment and leave to a place where, maybe, he might finally be able to breath, but Gold places his hands on Silver's shoulders, eyes level with Silver's and suffocatingly close.

"'_End of it_'? Love doesn't work like that. It doesn't just end. I want you to know that wherever you went, I'd still think of you, and I'd still be trying to find you." It's so frank, so straightforward that Silver feels embarrassed instead of Gold.

"But you just said-"  
"That I was fed up? But that doesn't mean I'd stop. I'll never stop... You never know, one day you might actually turn around and admit it." He gives Silver no chance to reply, flinging his arms around the red-head and speaking from where he's buried his face into Silver's shoulder. "So take me with you?"

Silver finds himself glad that he's no longer under such scrutiny, with his face burning and heart beating erratically.  
"What... But-"  
"You realise that wasn't a question, right?" Gold murmurs, grin evident in his tone, and Silver curses that fact that the ebony-haired trainer has already won, without him knowing at all.

"You screw up all my plans."

Gold laughs, and Silver pretends that he minds buying a second ticket.

* * *

And yeah, this is pretty rubbish really. Not going to lie. I hope you liked it even a bit though?


End file.
